Israel’s fury over Biden’s threat over weapons for Rafah attack

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who leads the ultranationalist Religious Zionist Party, accused Biden on an “arms embargo,” writing in a thread published on X that Israel “would achieve complete victory in this war, despite President Biden’s resistance.”

“We simply have no choice, as this war is existential and anything short of complete victory will endanger the existence of the Jewish state,” Smotrich said.

The country’s president, Isaac Herzog, sought to temper the reaction in comments that appeared to warn right-wing ministers.

Thanking Biden for being a “great friend of the State of Israel,” he said: “Even when there are disagreements and moments of disappointment among friends and allies, there is a way to clarify disputes and it is up to all of us to avoid baseless statements and tweets, irresponsible and insulting acts that harm the national security and interests of the State of Israel.”

However, Israeli military experts also expressed concern about Biden’s announcement.

Kobi Michael, a senior fellow at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies, said he had “difficulty understanding” Biden’s approach.

“He is committed to Israel’s security, providing Iron Dome and Arrow interceptors…but not sophisticated 2,000-pound bombs that will allow the IDF to attack Hamas,” he told NBC News. “What does that mean?”

“Israel is authorized to defend itself only on its territory, intercepting rockets and missiles, but is it not authorized to defend itself by attacking the source and generators of terrorism in Gaza or elsewhere?” Michael said Wednesday morning.

In a phone interview on Tuesday, before Biden’s comments, Michael said the US decision to suspend a weapons shipment was already a “worrying sign” that reflected the “depth of tension between Israel and the US.”

An Israeli official told NBC News that there were deep frustrations within the Israeli government with the Biden administration’s decision to withhold the shipment, which included 2,000-pound bombs, the US feared they would be used to deadly effect in a dense urban area.

“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a result of these bombs and other ways in which they attack population centers,” Biden said in his interview with CNN on Wednesday, when asked about the blocked shipment.

His administration has faced increasing scrutiny for continuing to send weapons to Israel despite the growing death toll in the enclave, and there has been little transparency into the volume of munitions the US has sent to Israel since the war began seven months ago.

But Israel already has a significant arsenal, so suspending arms transfers is unlikely to prevent any expanded military offensive in Rafah, said Alex Plitsas, an Atlantic Council fellow and military intelligence expert. The decision was largely “symbolic,” he suggested in a phone interview Wednesday.

“This will really have no impact on ground operations in Gaza,” he said, adding that he believed the Biden administration ultimately wanted to “express the discontent” it felt with Israel’s plans. But he noted that if the trend continues, future disrupted shipments could have a more tangible impact on Israel’s operations in Gaza.

This would not be the first time that the US has refused military aid to Israel.

In 1982, President Ronald Reagan imposed a six-year ban on the sale of cluster weapons to Israel, following a Congressional investigation that concluded that Israel had used them in populated areas in its 1982 offensive in Lebanon.